


Blue Light Keeps You From Falling Asleep, So Don't Use Electronic Devices Before Bed

by Ki_no_Shirayuki



Series: 摺箔 — Surihaku [27]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Androgyny, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood, Drama, Family Drama, Family Issues, Flashbacks, Gen, Humor, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Mary Sue, Omake, Power Outage, Royalty, Siblings, Snow and Ice, Storytelling, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-19 01:25:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12400236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ki_no_Shirayuki/pseuds/Ki_no_Shirayuki
Summary: Gintama Chromatic Chronicles entry #1: Blue.What's wrong with lighting blue lanterns and telling scary stories during a power outage in the middle of summer? Not like a ghost is going to appear and scare everyone out of their wits anyway.





	1. Out of the Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin: Read the [myth of the ghost of the blue lantern](http://yokai.com/aoandon/) if you haven't known it already.

It was a sweltering summer evening, and the crappy old electric fan found itself not being of much use as there was a power outage, and as everyone knew, power outage in the middle of summer was the absolute _worst_ (the author of this fan fiction has been there too, and it sucked). So, the Odd Jobs trio, being the Odd Jobs trio, had come up with an excellent (read: bizarre) idea to combat the heat. Soon there was faint and eerie blue light amidst the pitch-black darkness of the office, casting shadows upon the walls that trembled every now and then as the light flickered.

"This is a bad, no, a _terrible_ idea." Shinpachi commented as light from the five blue _andon_ lanterns placed about the room turned his face into a scary hue.

"We haven't even begun and you're already afraid?" Kagura grinned, the blue glow making her grin ten times creepier, "Well, good for you. The chills we get from telling scary stories cool us down, and it'll be  _even better_ if you can piss your pants."

"That's not the problem, dang it!" Shinpachi retorted, "Lighting candles inside can cause fire. Let's see if we can cool down then! Besides, looking at blue light in the dark isn't good for your eyes."

"Says the visually impaired." Gintoki quipped. If there was a prize for "Looking the Creepiest in Blue _Andon_ Light", it should definitely be given to him, "No need to make excuses, we already know you're afraid. Look at you, all shivering knees and…"

"Gin-san, it's _your_ knees that are shivering." Shinpachi said, seeing Gintoki now visibly terrified.

"Shinpachi-kun." said Kagura, who had become as scared as Gintoki was, "Be… be… be…"

"What is it?"

"Behind you…"

"Kagura-chan, are you telling me the ghost of the blue lantern has appeared? But we haven't even begun telling any stories yet! You two are definitely trying to scare me, now aren't you?" that said, he was forcibly turned around by the other two.

A pale, cadaverous horned figure draped in white clothes and ghostly black hair was grinning at Shinpachi, instantly stealing Gintoki's place as the one looking the creepiest in blue _andon_ light.


	2. Blue Ghost Blue

"This… this cannot be! What is this?" Shinpachi yelled, feet frozen firmly in place as the ghostly creature inched closer "Can this be the…"

"The ghost of the blue _andon_ …" Kagura murmured, backing away slowly.

"Hey, but the storytelling hasn't even started!" said Gintoki, "I didn't even tell the Shinpachi-got-his-butt-licked-by-Sadaharu story or Shinpachi-got-pissed-on-his-feet-by-Sadaharu story or…"

"Those aren't horror stories, they're just embarassing! Also, none of them happened!"

"I didn't even tell the story of that time I found mold growing on my _sukonbu_ … that was truly terrifying." Kagura breathed between clacking teeth.

"That was all your fault for being careless! But none of that matters now!" Shinpachi was almost breaking down in tears, "We are about to be eaten alive, and this is all thanks to your idea of lighting these lanterns in the first place! We're doomed!"

Then…

 _Bling_.

As though miracles from the gods were involved, right then and there, the electricity went back on, the room was lit, the crappy old fan could work again, and all was well in the world.

Except…

"Well," said the mysterious creature, " _shit_."

* * *

"My name is Baek An-dong." said the ghost, who now appeared as no more than a little girl so adorable one could mistake her for a _kokeshi_ doll, only with a pair of horns growing from her forehead and chocolate around her lips. Her voice was muffled from her munching on a popsicle from the assortment of frozen treats she had smuggled from the fridge during the outage, "Not you too, stupid fic author? Should I walk around the streets of Edo with a sign reading I AM A BOY on my chest from now on?" sorry, I mean, a _boy_ who looked awfully like a little girl, "thanks author, but I still take offense to the latter half of that remark!"

"What? Can you say your name again? Is it Baku Andou? Beku Ando? Baiku Andango? What is it?" asked Gintoki, "How am I supposed to pronounce it?"

"He's a Gary Stu, of course his name is exotic and unpronounceable." Shinpachi dryly commented.

"Just call me Andon." said the boy, tossing away the popsicle stick, picking up an ice-cream cone from the pile on the table and started unwrapping it.

"Hey, you're not allowed to wolf down my treats like that!" shouted Gintoki. "Besides, why did you sneak into my house? Right when we were about to have a storytelling party too! Damn, you really freaked us out, dude!"

"I sneaked in here _because_ of the storytelling party." Andon responded, having already finished the ice-cream cone and was moving on to the _mochi_ ice-cream. "It reminded me of the time before I moved to the city. There was no electricity, and my big brother and I also lit blue lanterns and had such storytelling nights. Life was hard back then, but back on my planet, I was bullied by all the kids at my school _and_ the next school, all the adults spat on me the first chance they got, I was robbed by a dog, brutally beaten by a gang of alley cats and always had a raincloud over me pouring thunderstorms on my head 24/7 all because I'm from the horned race, among other things."

"This guy is a quintessential Gary Stu." Shinpachi mouthed.

"A bunch of things happened before my brother and I came to Earth. Then, we lead a hard life in the countryside, what with our tiny house not having a proper bathroom and the "bathroom" we did have always smelling of pickled fish, but it was the happiest time of my life. But then, my brother, always desiring a better life, got an education, got a college degree and became a computer technician in Edo. He then brought me to the city to live with him. But he's become rather strange recently. He rarely returns home anymore, and now he's gone for a month straight without even so much as calling home. I didn't know what to do or what happened to him until I came across this place, you know, when you were lighting blue lanterns. Isn't this place the Yorozuya Gin-chan I often hear about? You help anyone in need, don't you?"

"We do," said Gintoki, grinning from ear to ear, gesturing with his hand, "as long as you have…"

Andon unwrapped a _furoshiki_ package he brought with him, revealing a round, grey rock which Kagura curiously poked, "This is all I have. It's enough to afford an old-model TV. This is my planet's currency, I don't know how to exchange it, so I hope you don't mind."

The Odd Jobs trio then screamed at the top of their lungs, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"


	3. The Cold Never Bothered Him Anyway

Their search for Andon's older brother Baek Jo-jin, or Chouchin as they called, proved longer than they expected, what with the group's constantly losing sight of Andon only to find him much later, having acquired a new frozen treat in place of the old one he gobbled up within the blink of an eye. Seriously, what was with this guy and frozen treats? His eating capacity could rival that of Kagura's, only all he ate was cold desserts, sometimes a plate of cold noodles or two, and nothing else. It was as though he could swallow both polar icecaps and still not be satisfied. Annoying though it was, luckily the Odd Jobs didn't have to pay for any of this; Andon was as cute as a _kokeshi_ doll, and all it took was a little smile on his cherry-colored lips for everyone he met to go, "What a pretty girl!", pinch his porcelain cheeks and hand him whatever cold food they had in hand, no questions asked (he had to resist correcting the misgendering; believe me, he tried his damned best).

"Alright kid, one more time and we're abandoning this case." Shinpachi sighed as the three caught up with the boy once again, a milkshake now in his hand. He happily slurped on it, paying no heed to Shinpachi's words.

"Seriously, does he really want to find his brother?" Gintoki whined, "He's been snacking non-stop the whole time. And why all cold food?"

"Well, it _is_ hot." Kagura said.

"But this is a waste of time. Looks like we can't find Chouchin-san after all." that said, Shinpachi was about to call out to Andon and announce their intention to call it quits, but he couldn't. Because right then Andon dropped his milkshake to the ground.

" _Aniki_!" he screamed.

The other three was confused for a while before they caught sight of a horned man trying to escape the place, making a beeline for the next turn.

"After him!" Gintoki cried.


	4. Let it S… NO!

They were chasing after Chouchin for a good while and had already cornered him at a dead-end alley when they remembered they forgot to take Andon with them. "You two, find Andon. I'll take care of him." said Gintoki, approaching the horned man at the wall at the end of the alley.

Looking like a deer in the headlights, Chouchin said nothing but simply produced a bar of ice-cream sandwich from his yukata. He unwrapped it, took a bite, and collapsed.

 _Did he poison himself so he won't get caught?_ thought Gintoki, moving closer to him, who was lying on the ground spasming in violent throes. Gintoki barely caught a glimpse of his face when he suddenly screamed, "Get away from me!"

Before Gintoki knew it, he was knocked back by a violent wind, and there were sharp icicles planted on the ground around where he fell. His own yukata was slashed; his arms now had multiple bleeding cuts which, much to Gintoki's shock, didn't even hurt.

He looked up; Chouchin was no longer convulsing, but was standing tall and proud. _What is this guy?_ Gintoki stood up and drew his sword. Lightly wincing from the wounds on his arms, which _now_ started to hurt, he charged at Chouchin.

He was taken not by a wind, but a full-on blizzard along with icicles thrown at him from every direction. He had a hard time parrying them as well as resisting the strong winds in order to advance forward, but he reached Chouchin. Except the man before him didn't look like Chouchin.

All he saw was a horned creature with ghostly white hair, glinting eyes and long teeth standing before him, grinning at him for a split second before disappearing along with the blizzard.

* * *

Shinpachi and Kagura made it to the street where they last saw Andon when they caught sight of a gathering crowd. They forced their way through the crowd and found what they were looking for: Andon lying twitching on the road, a half-eaten cup of shaved ice lay spilled next to him.

"Andon-kun!" Shinpachi crouched down and cradled the boy, who was cackling like a madman.

"Yes! Yes! Here it comes!" he didn't cease his insane laughing, "I can feel it! _I can feel it_!"


	5. Brace Yourselves, It's Not Actually Winter

"We are sorry for having to interrupt the show, but this is emergency news." said reporter Hanano between shivers, dressed in layers after layers of winter clothing, standing before what used to be an office building, but was now no more than rubble and broken glass sprinkled over a forest of icicles the size of pillars, ice blocks the size of cars and snow — _mountains_  of snow whose falling lumps of could kill anyone lucky enough to be spared by the icicles and ice blocks, which were not many, "Within the span of five hours, many technology companies' headquarters and facilities as well as electronics stores have been destroyed by snow and ice _in the middle of summer_. The culprit has not yet been identified, but we have a video of the suspect caught on this very building's security camera." an excerpt of the "Let It Go" music video was then shown, "Damn it! This is no time to fool around!" Hanano's voice was heard shouting over the music, "You know the author of this story loathes this song with every fiber of her existence, so who knows what she'll do to us if you keep playing that. Now turn it off!" she was back on camera again, "Sorry for the inconvenience; so, those working in technology companies and electronics stores, please evacuate your buildings immediate…"

She was instantly knocked over by Shinpachi and Kagura, the former carrying Andon on his back, sprinting through the place. The emergency news report then ended with Hanano barking a string of curses.

* * *

The two reunited with Gintoki, but before they could say anything to him, Gintoki cried, "Behind you!"

Within a split second, an icicle shot past Kagura, just millimeters away from touching her ear but managed to slice off a few strands of her hair.

"You bastards!" an ominous voice came from behind the two, and they turned around to see who it was from. A blue-skinned creature was there, baring his long teeth and claws, a deadly cold aura around him that would freeze anyone getting too close, "Nobody touches my brother and then stays alive!" his eyes glowed with white flames, hundred of small yet lethally sharp icicles already materializing in the air, ready to fire and tear the both of them as well as Gintoki to pieces.

Shinpachi wanted to stop him, but he found himself unable to move; his entire body except his head was encased in a block of ice. This wasn't Chouchin's doing; Kagura collapsed in terror as she witnessed Andon no longer on Shinpachi's back and no longer the adorable  _kokeshi_ doll they were familiar with; he now looked no less monstrous than his brother. "Sorry, Shinpachi." he said, his voice half growling, uneven with strained breaths.

"An-dong…" Chouchin uttered, his suspending icicles vanished into thin air.

" _Aniki_!" Andon launched himself at his brother, throwing his arms around him. They embraced each other for a while until, seeing Kagura and Gintoki's futile attempt at freeing Shinpachi, Andon let go and said, "I'm sorry, _aniki_ , I have to…"

"There's no need." Chouchin stopped him, forcibly pulling him closer, "That bastard trying to hurt you will soon meet his demise from hypothermia."

At that, Andon gathered all his strength and slapped Chouchin across the face.

"He helped me find you!" Andon was on the verge of tears, "He was nice, unlike _you_ , who left me on my own without telling me why! If your company makes you do that, at least you should have told me! You love your job more than you do me!" he was now actually sobbing, "So now, _aniki_ , I've eaten enough ice to awaken the power of the Ice Beast. I'll destroy your company and kill your boss, so you'll never go to work again. I don't need you to make money; I want you to stay home with me and tell scary stories in blue lantern light everyday like we used to do, so whatever you say, you _must_ tell me where you work. I'll destroy it! I _have_ to destroy it!"

"So that's what all the cold food you ate was for?" asked Kagura, stopping trying to free Shinpachi for a second.

"I told you everyone on my planet hates those with horns, didn't I?" Andon replied, "That's because they are descended from the Ice Beast, which killed thousands of people before it was slain. The horned race used to all live on cold mountains, so they could control the power of the Ice Beast within them, but then they moved to warmer places, and their powers diminished. And then one of them — our mother — met the King and fell in love with him. He kept everything in secret until everyone found out about us, their children, and then the King was overthrown for being in love with someone of such a lowly race, our mother was hated for "corrupting" him and we were hated for having royal blood, something the lowly race doesn't deserve."

"Just when you thought the little guy couldn't get any more Stu-ish, you find out he's also a prince, a fact which contributes to the story the least and drives you bonkers the most you can imagine." Shinpachi quipped, forgetting for a moment that he was still a human popsicle.

"I was never given a happy moment until we first came to Earth, and I don't want to lose it again! Please, _aniki_!" Andon sobbed again.

"Oh An-dong, you don't have to destroy where I work." Chouchin then broke into fits of maniacal laughter, "Because _I have already done it_!"

Andon as well as the Odd Jobs were too shocked to form words.

"I don't have time to wait for you to chill yourself so you can awaken your Ice Beast power. You see, I've done it before you did. You don't have to worry, after I've destroyed all the evil technology bastards in this rotten country, I'll return to you and we'll light blue lanterns and tell stories everyday, like you always wanted."

""This rotten country"? Why does this sound terribly familiar?" Gintoki commented.

"Well…"

* * *

_Yet another hard day of work had ended. Baek Jo-jin put on his sedge hat concealing his horns, and headed down the street. Day by day, he never stopped regretting becoming a computer technician, contributing to a world where people no longer see face-to-face, eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart, where everyone's worlds were limited to the screens of their computers and smartphones. This was the world his brother was growing up in, where he would eventually become so tied to an electronic device he would no longer be the little brother he knew. He didn't want that to happen. He needed to do something._

_"Hello there." he was snapped out of his thought when a man donning a purple, patterned yukata and also wearing a sedge hat called out to him, "You are deeply troubled, I assume?"_

_"How do you know?" Chouchin asked back._

_"I heard you talking to yourself. No, don't say anything else. I know what you feel. This world is no longer what it once was. It's now just a shell of its former self, populated by soulless individuals. It is up to us — to_ you _— to put an end to this. To all of this."_

_Chouchin didn't answer; he mulled over the man's words for a while before saying with a smirk, "I wonder if you have walk-in refrigerators?"_

_Joining league with this man, Chouchin was constantly absent from work and rarely returned home anymore, but it was worth it._

* * *

" _Takasugi_." the name escaped Gintoki's lips as he came to the shocking realization.

"Oh, you know him? But it's too late." Chouchin laughed again, "As I said, I do not let anything or anyone mess with my little brother." his entire body glowed as he concentrated his energy, "Including you."


	6. A Song of Ice and More Ice

"Gin-san! Look out!" Shinpachi screamed. Chouchin directed all his energy into one powerful attack heading straight for the Odd Jobs. They were only seconds away from being finished off when an energy shield appeared before them, blocking the blast.

"An-dong!" Chouchin growled, "Stop being such a nuisance and let me protect you!"

"I will never let you!" Andon answered, letting the barrier disappear. He was truly enraged, his eyes glowing even brighter than his brother's.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?" Shinpachi cried, "You won't stand a chance against him!"

Andon just quietly performed some movements with his claws, and the ice block encasing Shinpachi instantly melted.

"I don't care if I don't stand a chance against him. I won't let him kill innocent people, even if it's for my sake."

"And you just said you wanted to wreck the place where I work and kill my boss, little brother!" Chouchin chuckled smugly.

"I admit I had wrong thoughts, but now it's no longer the case. I appreciate that you do care about me after all, but seeing your doing this kind of stuff, I'd rather you didn't care about me at all." Andon said as he summoned a blizzard, causing the Odd Jobs to move back, "Who cares if I can't listen to your tales? I can light my own candles now, and I can tell stories to myself. I don't need a brother like you." he then roared with all his might and directed the blizzard forward, " _I am going to kill you_!"

Chouchin said nothing and, with an amused look on his face, deflected the blizzard right back, knocking his brother back a good distance. Andon winced from the impact and sat up only to find himself lifted up by his neck, Chouchin's icy claws digging into his skin.

"Lest we forget I still haven't said anything about your slapping me moments ago." his claws penetrated Andon's skin as it sucked energy from his body. Andon morphed back into his usual, _kokeshi_ -doll-like form, and was then dropped back on the ground like a sack of potatoes, "I only wanted the best for you, but since you are such an ungrateful brat, I have no choice but to punish you." a large icicle appeared in his palm.

" _Aniki_." Andon weakly responded.

"I'm sorry, Baek An-dong."

Before he could go ahead and drive the icicle through his brother's chest, he was toppled from behind, falling face-first into the thick layer of snow beneath him. Andon looked up in awe — Gintoki was standing on Chouchin's head picking his nose, while Kagura and Shinpachi each stood on one of Chouchin's hands.

"Git oof of me, yoo stoopud busturds!" Chouchin's muffled yell could be heard.

"Yo, Your Royal Highness." Gintoki said to Andon, "As much of an asshole your big bro is, you shouldn't kill him. After all, he loves you." he then jumped off of Chouchin's head, crouched down, and pulled his face up by the hair, "And you too, Your Royal Assness. I thought a computer technician should know better than anybody else about the awesomeness of technology. Without it, how am I gonna get a super hot weather forecaster to ogle every morning?" Kagura and Shinpachi rolled their eyes at that, "You do got nerve, criticizing everybody else for becoming cold and heartless when the only one cold and heartless is _you_. I have an excellent idea: how about not giving a shit what other people do with their electronic devices and minding your own business and developing your own bonds? Your little bro will be grateful for it."

That said, the other two jumped off of Chouchin's hands. He sat up and, saying no words, transformed back to his normal form. The snow around him melted, and a beam of sunlight bathed his kneeling frame.

" _Aniki_!" before he fully came to his senses, his brother pulled him into a tight hug.

"An-dong." was all he managed to get out.

"Oh, it's getting hot again." Kagura complained, "I wanna go get ice cream."

As he heard "ice cream", Andon quickly announced he wanted to tag along, but it was too late; the Odd Jobs had already appeared around the corner, calling loudly, "No, we're _not_ eating ice cream with you again!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sorry this was so short, I'm not good at writing fighting scenes.


	7. Blue Isn't Even the Coldest Color

"What? We're doing this _again_? The power isn't even out!" Shinpachi whined, bathed in the blue light coming from five lanterns.

"But it's fun!" Kagura giggled, "I like seeing you all scared and shivering knees and…"

"I wasn't scared. I was never scared! If you think His Highness is going to jump-scare us again like last time, then you're wrong. Their Highnesses are too busy running their shaved-ice shop for such silly stuff." Shinpachi's tone changed from annoyed to concerned, "W… What's wrong, Kagura-chan? You too, Gin-san! You look _terrified_!"

"Shinpachi-kun, behind you. No, seriously." Gintoki shivered.

"I said, it won't happen aga… What the?" Shinpachi's jaw fell open as he took in the sight of a ghostly figure rising up from behind the lanterns.

The ghost reached for the light switch, and it turned out to be no one other than Otose.

"I see you're trying to save energy, which is a good thing." she said, "But I'm afraid I still have to ask you about the rent."

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanon cast:  
> His Highness Prince ~~Gary Stu~~ Baek An-dong — **Murase Ayumu** one of the few male voice actors who have voiced female roles.  
> His Fuckedness Prince ~~Garyer Stuer~~ Baek Jo-jin — **Maeno Tomoaki** don't ask.


	8. Omake

"There's only one lantern left now. It's your turn, Shorty." said Gintoki, "What, are you afraid the ghost will appear?"

"Like hell that's gonna happen, Gintoki" Takasugi snarked, "I think we should blow the candle right now and go to sleep. Sensei says it's not good to stare at blue light in the dark for too long. You won't be able to sleep."

"Pfft, excuses, excuses. Scaredy cat."

That immediately triggered Takasugi, and he pushed Gintoki back into the mattress. They wrestled until Katsura separated them, and pointed at the remaining lantern, "Guys, look."

They were puzzled, but look at the direction Katsura pointed anyway, and saw a creepy figure in long robes and hair, smiling gleefully at them. The "ghost" enjoyed the kids' freaking out for a while before standing up, switching on the light and ultimately revealing himself to be Shouyou-sensei, still looking utterly amused.

"Boys, what did I say about staying up late _and_ blue light?" he said between laughs, "Because of this, each of you will have to write "I will go to bed on time and not tell scary stories" 500 times, starting tomorrow, alright?"

" **Aw MAN**!"


End file.
